Cork, the Other Wood

Created at http://olioboard.com go there for all the product details.

A renewable resource, the unique qualities of bark from the cork oak tree help make our interiors safer and more livable places.  As a result, cork products continue to proliferate in interior design applications.  We see cork on floors and on the walls.  It's been used to create tables, seating, and storage pieces.  It can even be prepared into a fabric used to cover pillows and lampshades.  It's a superior insulator, heat retardant, impermeable and mold resistant.  The flexibility of this material also makes it very comfortable underfoot.  In short, cork is cool.

Details at http://olioboard.com

So, there was little surprise my search for new spring 2012 fashions yielded designs using cork again and again---right down to the metallic details.

L: Metallic & Patent T-strap Cork Sandal by Jimmy Choo
R: Cork wallpaper in Metallic Gold by Thibault, Natural
Resource Collection

With all this cork-love going on, I couldn't resist doing a round-up of how miniaturists are using cork in their own interiors.  Well, we've created (or repurposed) coffee tables, side tables, message boards, flooring and oversized vases, all in 1:12 scale.

Mini-bloggers counterclockwise from top left: ModernMC, 
ModernMC, TinyFixation, callsmall and callsmall

And sometimes, life imitates art.  So, an oversized cork stopper makes a life-sized table like the table TinyFixation of the blog, Large and in Charge repurposed from a champagne cork in her own dollhouse.

L: 1:12 scale and R: 1:1 scale

I would love to know how others of you use cork in miniature. Here are some of my own favorite cork applications.  I discovered purchased this great product, cork contact paper. It really ups the creativity quotient for the ways cork can be used in our mini-interiors.  If you've used this awesome product, please let me know by leaving a comment. In the room I set up below, you find it everywhere: on the floor, the stools, and the brick wall! Cork...it really is the other white meat wood.